


Five and Dime: Halloween Treats and Trick

by peoriapeoria



Series: Fitter of the Species [32]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Artist Steve Rogers, Avengers Tower, Canon Character of Color, Character Study, Cosplay, Gen, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) Lives, Party, Popular Culture, Star Trek References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 15:52:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16222328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peoriapeoria/pseuds/peoriapeoria
Summary: A five plus one of Halloweens after Avengers. Five costume parties and one final scene.





	1. 2014

**Author's Note:**

> Steve Rogers was transformed into a powerfully built woman by Project Rebirth. JARVIS is an AI and is Vision's father.

Sam should have expected this. He'd heard about, read about and even participated in some pretty weird cohesion and coping behaviors. Naturally, when you had a team of people that fought dressed up in bold colors Halloween would be pretty important. He supposed technically Steve was responsible for most of the bold colors, being decked out as an American flag wrapped around a brick wall. Sam also was more brightly plumed than his in theater made him entirely comfortable with; marketing combined with know-your-allies in his new silver wings and white body armor tied together with red detailing.

He had passed on the Wizard of Oz theme, and as such Clint, Bruce, Phil, and even Tony would clam up when he breached their security perimeter of Halloween preparations. That was his clue to how seriously they took costumes.

"Sam, are you in their boys club?" Pepper asked.

Sam looked at Pepper, her question outside any expectation. "Oh, no. I haven't made my Halloween pact with them." If they were all going to be ten, he'd use that sort of gravity. Pepper smiled. That still made him a little uneasy, though he got that she was part of the Avengers package since she helmed Stark Industries.

"Natasha and I are trying to convince Steve to join us in a Lord of the Rings theme."

Ah. She was buying his loyalty with secrets. "And you think I can move Steve?" She was as stubborn as anyone he knew, and Sam had a lot of kinswomen.

"She's a team player." Pepper regarded him mulling over her words. "Natasha isn't disclosing her costume, just that it's Tolkien."

Sam had read the Hobbit as a child, and had re-read it after the Triskelion; it had come up afterward. It turned out reading the Lord of the Rings had been one of the things Steve liked about the 21st century. Sam hadn't gotten that into his reading list yet, though he'd seen the first movie what sometimes seemed a lifetime ago. He'd missed the releases of the other two.

"Aragorn." Pepper stated.

Sam considered it. He might need to change his trimming a little, but, yeah. "I'm not going to match the hair."

"You're the post-Mordor version, all cleaned up for Court."

Smooth answer. "Who am I steering Steve away from?"

"Eowyn."

Sam had some reading to do.

\---------------

A Stark party was a thing of legend. That hadn't changed; since the events of the past year, having an invitation was more pertinent. The guest list had shifted, altered. The best of food, drink, entertainment and staff to manage it all was spread out for the costumed guests.

Pepper greeted guests in her Eowyn armor, careful not to get snagged in the fringes or feathers.

Steve found Sam at one of the buffets. "A little overwhelming." She picked and chose a small plate of nibbles.

"You must be used to these by now." Sam turned having finished making selections. "Wow."

"I clean up well." Steve chewed a spiced meatball.

"Not getting blown up helps." Sam opined. Not that Steve nor Natasha had looked ugly when they showed up at his place, but a woman put together was a different matter than one that had been running or running for her life.

Steve was wearing long hair, a diadem across her forehead, the gown hanging in pleats. The thin drape attached at her elbows as well as the shoulders.

Sam wore a knee-length surcoat of dove grey with widening sleeves displaying the silver brocade shirt underneath through gaps between shoulder and cuff, large buttons holding the oversleeve together. A few inches of his pants showed between the surcoat's hem and boot tops. The surcoat had embroidery both around the yoke and the hem. He wore a figured circlet rather than the coronation crown.

"Is Natasha here?" Sam had figured out Steve's vision was just that bit better than his own.

"I'm not sure."

Lighting cues started, green flashes, emerald not Matrix acid. A tunnel of brighter light formed for a grand entrance. One never had to ask if Tony had arrived. In fact, he, as a certain Woodsman, led Scarecrow, Dorothy and Lion.

"Clint?" Sam asked, and turned to Steve. Her expression was- and it hit Sam like a truck, why she was smile-crying. "I'll see if I can't find Natasha."

Pepper headed for Scarecrow-Phil and Dorothy. Tony would need to circulate and charge himself up like a pullback car. Bruce had already bee-lined for Steve turning her into an Arts Nouveau Glenda with Lion.

She leaned in for a hug. "Where did you get those shoes?" They were fabulously sparkly with Clint's knee highs.

"From a witch." Clint smiled.

Pepper snorted from the mental image it conjured of the farmhouse dropping.

She hugged Phil, who did not crunch with straw. His return still felt a little unreal. She supposed that came with the circumstances of thinking him dead for so long.

"I am sorry." He whispered it to her.

Mind reader. Pepper let Phil go and gave Clint a parting shoulder squeeze and cheek kiss.

"Sam, good, I don't have to find you." Tony grabbed Sam and introduced him to a smoking hot babe. Tony continued his prowl; he judged that Natasha should also be Tolkien, based on the rest of the team's choices. He slapped Bruce on the back and smiled impishly at Steve. Mostly out of arm's reach. Calculated risk.

Sam danced with Gertie, scanning the crowd.

"You seem distracted." She sounded merely curious, which good, they'd just met.

"Secret costume."

"Hobbits?"

"How many are here? I've seen two, neither are her."

"Those might be it. Let's look around, I'd like to meet Black Widow."

Hot and smart. Sam offered his elbow and they set off.

Steve was eating, Bruce having excused himself with a promise to return. Steve turned, hearing a strange language. A bearded dwarf. Steve listened longer to the speech, for that it surely was. It didn't sound like Dwarven, Dwarvish- but the query about Legolas solidified that this must be Gimli, speaking Sindarin. Steve hadn't taken to the constructed languages any more than he had Esperanto in the 30s.

"I'm sorry, I've not seen him but I fear he's led you astray in his language tutelage."

Sam having eliminated the impossible, concluded this was Natasha. "Very nice beard."

"Arwen, you are lovely as ever." The voice did give her away. Gimli also absconded with Sam's new friend.

"She sees us all the time." Steve offered Sam.


	2. 2016

Barnes did actually show as Princess Leia Organa, white dress and cinnamon buns complete. Tony supposed Agent wasn't the oldest fanboy Luke he'd seen. He might even be a Jedi for what Tony knew. He headed to the bar to get Rhodey a drink, JARVIS providing both a readout for the bartender and a Chewbacca vocalization. The Air Force had graciously let Honeybear combine Warmachine upgrades with some R&R.

Tony interrupted Han Solo and Indiana Jones, giving Han his drink.

"Thanks, Chewie." Rhodey sipped, then got back to talking with Bruce.

Tony cruised around the party, letting loose Wookie greetings. Sam was meeting and greeting in fine Lando Calrissian form. He spotted Clint and Steve up in a vantage point. He made his way upstairs, trusting JARVIS to let Pepper know she had the main level.

Clint might be Isis or Ishtar. Tony thought Paris had worn the same lack of costume several years back. Clint wore it better. Steve was probably referencing something so old Bruce would have to excavate it. That's when he saw the bolts, one on each side of Steve's neck.

"You seem to run on some form of electricity."

Steve's pencil went flying to the people below. She looked between her drawing and then down, closing the book and her pencil box. She knew she'd walked into it, it was clear as she looked at him. Her expression in these moments was priceless.

Tony scanned the party, looking for Natasha. Below she had the advantage of cover.

Clint and then Steve started laughing. Neither telegraphed where they were looking, but Tony scanned below figuring only Natasha could inspire that.

Gobsmacked. The robes, the head color, were all spot on for Yoda. She had a snout and the largest set of false eyelashes he'd ever beheld. Possibly more than one set.

"What?!" Clint interjected.

Tony exited the aerie, trusting that JARVIS and Natasha could improvise 'disappearing' Pepper-Chewie.


	3. 2017

"What is Halloween?" Wanda asked Barnes.

"This is about the party." Modern Halloween wasn't the same as the one he'd grown up with.

"Yes, the party."

"Did Sokovia have Carnival?" Before the Baron and Ultron, if he'd been through Sokovia it was in passing.

"Yes." Wanda was humoring him. "That's in Winter."

"Parts of America only have Lent, without Carnival. Halloween is when they dress up, act foolish, feel like a kid again maybe." He was guessing.

"How does one pick a costume?"

"Run your ideas past JARVIS."

\-----------------

Barnes adjusted the pauldron and wrist guard on his left arm. He was embracing going full Xena, by dressing as Xena. Alternate costumes were a thing with the mash-up history. He got into the elevator.

Clint met him at the party, bouncing up to him. Early Gabby. Not so early Clint's belly wasn't on view.

"That's." He realized he wasn't looking at Johnny Storm, but rather Steve as the Human Torch complete with orange flame headpiece. It went from odd to eleven when Bruce dressed as the Statue of Liberty joined Steve. Steve must have mixed the makeup and applied it. Barnes headed for the food, noting that the cone Bruce held in his right hand had the railing but not the rest.

He ran into Sam who was dressed as Bass Reaves. Sam looked him over and shook his head. "Braver than me."

Barnes headed to one of the tall tables to stand. Having both hands full was tactically unsound.

He spotted Phil but didn't know what costume the old-fashioned suit represented and looked at Clint.

"He might be Maverick?" Clint didn't sound very sure of his guess.

That didn't help. He scanned the guests for Natasha. It was a large party.

He noticed Vision first but it was Wanda he recognized. The suit didn't mean much to him, though she was wearing her hair differently. Something about her gave a Maria Hill vibe. Vision was dressed formally, in a cut Barnes recalled from dead old men. He had a wig of light brown, and was carrying a mask on a stick, sparkly and with feathers. His face was painted gold.

Surely he wasn't C3P0. Vision had a breadth and depth of knowledge beyond anybody. Any human, but not any person. Data! He looked from Data Holmes to Fire's Red Glare. Maybe he hadn't been wrong when he talked with Wanda.

Clint ditched him; fair enough, he had a husband just across the room. He texted Darcy quickly, just in case someone tried claiming Gabrielle was an Indian Princess on twitter. Was Phil P.T. Barnum?

"I missed my chance to be the Doctor."

All his friends were trolls. Clint had joked he'd dress as Leela of the Sevateem. Pepper clearly knew the difference; she just was yanking his chain. "You're very shiny." Her face was glittery but past a masked demarcation she was blue-silver. Her costume was a chased cuirass that hooked over her shoulders, long gloves, tall boots, a stacked neck piece and a draped bustle sort of skirt. It left her back bare except for body paint.

"Dance with me."

"Help me clean my plate." He took a look at her hands and the finger foods he'd selected. He picked up something and she opened her mouth. Between them they cleared the last of it.

"You okay mirror imaged?" He took her left hand in his right.

\-----------------

Vision took in the event, though most of his attention was on Wanda. Pietro had made the occasional appearance, if you could call it that at a blur. He was splitting his time variously among the pleasures the city offered.

He noticed his Grandsire with Steve and Dr. Banner. The costume, from the movie Tron, was not built as those had been. The torso and legs were made of stacked laser-cut fabric sewn together forming terraced troughs. There were a few other alterations with the objective of giving a more complete representation of the movie. His Grandsire was dressed as a Program.

Vision had chosen Lt. Commander Data not only because Data was a fictional android, but because JARVIS had learned to be JARVIS in part from Star Trek:The Next Generation. JARVIS had watched the show with his creator. Vision had both the text and the response to the text as part of his inherited coding.

He'd chosen for the purposes of the party to dress as Data prepared to play Sherlock Holmes. Vision had read that; he had read many things, but it said something that so many read and re-read those stories. As such, much as he'd corrected the makeup rather than copy the unexpected results under the studio lights, he'd chosen a more appropriate example of Victorian tailoring than the traveling costume that was such a shorthand for the Detective never born.

Wanda had chosen Dr. Dana Scully. He had hypothesized from the facts he held, knowing that they were insufficient. Steve was playing with the circumstance of visual similarity. Many might play at the Human Torch, but Steve contained a unique commonality set in tension with the differences. Dr. Banner's in conjunction with Steve's and Steve held a depth of humor.

Natasha was dressed in a red ballerina's costume, the romantic tutu and embroidered bodice suggesting a queen. She approached Clint and Phil Coulson. She had a windup key affixed to her back. The conflict between the red queen and automaton was poignant.


	4. 2015

The Star Trek pajama party was a very low-key affair. Barnes had returned, and it didn't feel right to get too involved, in case he decided to join them. Phil smiled as Bruce tried to determine if he should say anything about the red shirt. Naturally, Bruce was in blue. Sam had also gone with red. Steve was wearing the green wrap shirt.

They watched the Charlie Brown Halloween special, ate caramel apples and popcorn balls, played mummy rummy and listened to novelty tunes. Even Clint was subdued, dressed in the sand cowl neck tunic and black wig of Number One.

Natasha was the other exception, she having set herself on the Next Generation jumpsuit in engineering/security mustard with small Bajoran nose ridges.

JARVIS made a transporter noise and then a door snick as the elevator door opened.

"Pepper." Said several of them.

She was wearing a tunic with mod circles covering it, over leggings.

"I heard you've got Zagnuts."

Steve pulled one out of the punchbowl of candy.

Pepper crossed and took it from her. "Thank you." She looked them over. "You're very co-ordinated." She opened the bar and took a bite.

Clint looked between Steve and Bruce, then between Bruce and Pepper. "I've got ears."

Phil managed to not bark nor melt. Of course Clint would have Vulcan ears. He had brought them down along with a makeup kit and stashed them, so he missed no momentum once given assent. Soon Pepper was sporting a set and inveigling Bruce subtly and silently.

He managed to get everyone around Captain Kirk and Spock Banner throwing Live Long and Prospers behind their heads. Pepper had changed her hairstyle while Clint worked on Bruce, accentuating the ears. He sent a copy to May's team.


	5. 2013

Steve felt bad about the brick print tee looking at Clint's costume, which was based on Sun King court fashion, though in black, including the wig. There was a lot going on just in the charms adorning that wig. "Your costume's really good. Impressive."

"Did you make your and Bruce's shirts?" Clint had a beauty mark with tiny batwings on springs.

"Yeah?"

"You have to get photos when Tony sees you."

Steve got a text; she pulled out the vibrating phone. It was from JARVIS. I Will. Steve smiled looking up as she put the phone away.

Natasha appeared, perhaps as a Victorian bicyclist in pink? Again, it looked like a lot of work just wearing it, let alone constructing it. "Couple's costume." It was ambiguous and frankly a little ominous coming from a life-size china doll.

Steve smiled and sought out Bruce. He'd agreed to come to the party if he didn't have to wear anything fussy. The Kool-Aid man tee met that guideline; Bruce had laughed, jabbing at the green of the figure, unable to talk. Bruce had gotten a preview of his own shirt but not Steve's.

Bruce's laughter was rewarding. "Brick House," he said once he could speak.

Steve had thought it pretty funny positioning the outhouse moon where the Captain America Star rode on her uniform. That and the hinges were the only parts of the shirt not patterned in bricks.

"Please, both of you, you have to wear those for Pepper."

"Sure, Tony." said Steve, Bruce saying "Okay."


	6. +1: 2012

Clint had made his appearance at the Stark fundraiser Halloween Party; he felt he'd gave at the office so after he'd made the rounds he'd gotten out of there. The team didn't know he was married. Was. Judy Jetson was a simple enough costume, the go-go boots sold it with the platinum wig.

He set out to find some dumb-asses that needed educated. Halloween assured he'd get in a little public service, creeps being creeps.

He wasn't disappointed, sadly.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll add a glossary of represented characters after Halloween.
> 
> I do like constructive critique, ascii, and typo wrangling.


End file.
